There was a really interesting piece by Grahame Lloyd about former Glamorgan bowler Malcolm Nash published in The Cricket Monthly recently. He’s forever immortalized in cricketing history as the bowler who bowled the over which Garry Sobers hit for a record 36 runs in 1968 but what many people may not be aware of is that Malcolm Nash was an very accomplished cricketer. In a career from 1966 – 1983 Malcolm took 993 first class wickets and scored over 7,000 runs which included 2 centuries and 25 fifties.

  Malcolm Nash

Grahame Lloyd’s article can be read at http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/909203/the-other-side-of-36

We very much look forward to welcoming Malcolm as our guest speaker on Wednesday 4th November (7.45pm) at the George Hotel in Norwich. Malcolm will be joined on the evening by Graham Lloyd, author of Six of the Best: Cricket’s Most Famous Over and Howzat! The Six Sixes Ball Mystery.

A new website and two new international cricketers using their equipment – Norfolk Cricket Bat Company are going great guns at the moment!

Check out the new website at http://www.norfolkcricketbats.com/ which has photos and descriptions of all of the bats and kit plus information about the first class and minor counties cricketers who use them.

Also now using Norfolk Cricket Bat Company bats and equipment are South African women’s captain Mignon du Preez with her own Minx22 range, and Pakistan international Saeed Ajmal who’s back playing for Worcestershire CCC this summer.

Master bat maker David Wolstenholme

Check out this great Mustard TV feature on Norfolk Cricket Bat Company to find out more about the work of master bat maker David Wolstenholme.

http://www.mustardtv.co.uk/browse/batting-above-average/

We very much hope that David will join us again one evening soon to update us on all of the exciting developments at Norfolk Cricket Bat Company.

On Wednesday 4th November we’ll be welcoming former Glamorgan bowler Malcolm Nash as our guest speaker. Malcolm was recently featured in The Independent adding further weight to well founded claims that the cricket ball sold at auction for a record £26,400 in 2006 was not the ball bowled by him on 31st August 1968 when Garry Sobers hit him for a record six sixes in an over.

Malcolm Nash

The feature in The Independent can be accessed at http://ind.pn/1FlLSIO

The full account of the sale of the ball reads like a detective story and you can read all about it in Grahame Lloyd’s excellent book Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery.

Very pleased to announce that Grahame Lloyd will be joining Malcolm for the talk on 4th November by which time we hope that the riddle of the ball will finally be solved once and for all!

Delighted that Dan Waddell has won the 2015 Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year award for his book about an English cricket team’s tour of Nazi Germany in 1937 – Field of Shadows.

More details about Dan’s award can be found on the Lords website at http://www.lords.org/news/2015/may/field-of-shadows-wins-book-of-the-year/

Dan will be joining us as our guest speaker on Wednesday 14th October, 7.45pm at the George Hotel. Pop the date in your diary and join us for what will be a unique combo of Nazis and cricket!

Further information about Field of Shadows and Dan’s other books is available at http://www.danwaddell.net/shadows.htm

You can follow Dan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/danwaddell

A new book about the history of cricket in Norfolk has just been published by one of our members.  Written by Keir Hounsome,  A Game Well Played: A History Of Cricket In Norfolk charts the development of the game in the county from its original ad hoc existence to its current structured and organised form in the 21st century.

If you’ve ever wondered where the first recorded cricket match was held in Norfolk, when were Norfolk considered the second best side in England or when did WG Grace play in Norwich then you’ll find all the answers in Keir’s book!

Copies are available for £14 (which includes £2 for P&P) and can be ordered directly from Keir Hounsome, full details are available on the attached flyer below.

A Game Well Played flyer

Really great to see our September 2013 guest speaker David Wolstenholme from the Norfolk Cricket Bat Company on Mustard TV recently.

David Wolstenholme, jedi master of bat making!

David’s talk for us was a brilliant insight into the art of bat making and he’s promised to return to do a follow-up sometime, definitely one not to miss!

Here’s the link to the Mustard TV feature

http://www.mustardtv.co.uk/browse/batting-above-average/

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 27 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

We’re taking our mid-winter break but we’ll be back on February 12th, 7.45pm when our guest speaker will be former Middlesex CCC & Gloucestershire CCC batsman Richard Ellis.

Our November speaker Mike Selvey (right) passing on the flame to our February speaker Richard Ellis.

Not long to go until Christmas so here are some stocking filler ideas for you.

All of these books have been written by Norfolk Cricket Society speakers past, speakers present and speakers yet to come!

The Champion Band by Scott Reeves, published by Chequered Flag (2014), RRP £11.99

http://www.chequeredflagpublishing.co.uk/championband.htm

What Wisden Means to Me by Bill Furmedge, published by Wisdenworld (2013), RRP £8.50

http://www.wisdenworld.co.uk/store/ecom-prodshow/Wisden_WWMTM13_Paperback.html

Knights in Whites, Major Men, and Preachers and Teachers by Mike Davage, published by Colchester Print Group (2011), RRP £15.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knights-Whites-Major-Men-Preachers/dp/0957040008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416060730&sr=8-1&keywords=9780957040007

Lionel Robinson: Cricket at Old Buckenham by Stephen Musk, published by ACS Publications (2014), RRP £14

http://acscricket.com/?page_id=45&category=3&product_id=110

Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery by Grahame Lloyd, Published By Celluloid Ltd (2013), RRP £14.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Howzat-The-Sixes-Ball-Mystery/dp/0954596153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416061203&sr=8-1&keywords=9780954596156

Field of Shadows by Dan Waddell, Published by Bantam Press (2014), RRP £16.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Shadows-English-Cricket-Germany/dp/0593072618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400063578&sr=8-1&keywords=field+of+shadows

Bowl Like the Devil by Bob Cattell, Published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (2012), RRP £5.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bowl-Like-Devil-Bob-Cattell/dp/1847802826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416352935&sr=8-1&keywords=9781847802828

Enjoy!

It’s a long way off (and we have an Ashes series to endure before then) but I’m pleased to announce that author Dan Waddell will be joining us as our guest speaker on Wednesday 14th October 2015.

Dan will be discussing his book ‘Field of Shadows’ which tell the remarkable true story of an English cricket team’s tour to Nazi Germany in 1937!

Dan Waddell

Further information about ‘Field of Shadows’ is available at http://www.danwaddell.net/shadows.htm

You can follow Dan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/danwaddell